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Lake Erie Steelhead January Action

PostPosted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 3:11 pm
by JackSprat
The Steelhead fishing on Erie’s Westside tributaries has been good. The weather was milder than normal, and everyone who could get out on the streams enjoyed the mid-winter opportunity. Most anglers reported 5-10 fish per day and some did much better when they found a pod of fish in a “special location.” Over the last four days, Friday the 18th was the hot day on Elk Creek. That day many anglers caught 10 or more fish.

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Fly fishing, center pin and spinning gear anglers were on the streams and catching some nice sized fish. Nymphs, zonkers, egg imitations, sucker spawn, jigs/maggots, egg sacs, single eggs, minnows and skein were the standard answers when asked, “What are they taking?” I watched someone using Cleo’s and spinners catch several fish on lower Elk Creek.

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Up to now, only water level fluctuations caused a major problem with the Steelhead fishing. Rain and snow melt runoff blew out the streams and stopped the fishing for a day or so, but once the water temperatures stabilized and the water level dropped the fishing was back to business as usual.

Today, January 19th, the weather took a turn back to winter conditions, and the immediate Steelhead fishing future looks bleak. A snowstorm and frigid temperatures will lock up the slow moving water for the remainder of this weekend and the first part of next week. After that we will just wait and see if we get a warm up as we approach February.

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The good news is there are plenty of fish to catch and fresh Steelhead continue to enter the streams. Once we get back to normal temperatures, you can expect the fishing to pick up again.

I have posted some fish catching video and stream condition pictures. You can see the entire report at http://www.storytrax.com/node/1169.

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